Today’s CSM has an informative update (and illustrative infographic) on the accusations that the Thai navy forced Muslim Burmese boat people back to sea in rickety boats with little food or water.
CSM: “Thailand accused of mistreating Muslim refugees”
Other stories:
Here’s an incredible collection of Obama inauguration photos from Boston.com’s The Big Picture. I particularly like the international images. I think this one is my favorite.
Thanks to Austin for mentioning that he recently saw an ad here in Bangkok for the following food product that, I must say, is quite amazing.
It’s called — brace yourselves — the double bacon cheese pizza. And, yes, the crust contains bacon wrapped in cheese.
You can get it at The Pizza Company, a Thai chain. I haven’t tried it yet. But I just might have to. One interesting detail: it’s served with cheese sauce on the side. (In case you need even more cheese! Presumably there’s no bacon on the side, since there’s “double bacon” in the crust.)
Go to the official Pizza Company site for an entertaining video about this new offering. ((And this reminds me, dear readers, that I have been remiss. I have let you down. I’d forgotten to tell you about another remarkable Pizza Company product that I consumed nearly a year ago. I give you the super jumbo hot dog pizza. It has a hot dog embedded in its crust. You can see photos here and here. I wish I could tell you that I liked it. I consider myself to be an adventurous eater. But…well, it wasn’t for me.))
Long-time Newley.com readers will recall my previous extreme, hot dog-related eating expeditions:
What’s the best way to tell a travel story?
Newspaper and magazine travel journalism, as we know, typically aims to pair descriptive, compelling text with illustrative photography. But what if you add complimentary video and a blog to the mix?
The New York Times‘s Matt Gross — the Times‘s Frugal Traveler — has been producing some really, really good travel journalism over the last few years. ((Disclaimer: I’m lucky enough to call Matt a pal, but I was a fan of his work before our paths ever crossed. In fact, before I ever moved to Bangkok, I ate up his NYT travel stories from Southeast Asia, particularly “To Be Young and Hip in Bangkok.”)) And he’s been doing so using not just well-crafted words accompanied by well-shot images. He’s also been using a blog and sms alerts to connect with his readers. And some of his stories are plotted on Google Maps. There’s even a Frugal Traveler Facebook group (latest count: 1,345 fans).
Matt has traveled around the world in 90 days; he took a road trip across the US; and he re-created the European grand tour. All of his stories are formatted as blog posts, and many of them receive over a hundred comments. In some of the comments, readers give him travel tips on where to go and what to do when he gets to future destinations.
In short, though I’m not a fan of the phrase “Web 2.0,” Matt is a travel writer for the Web 2.0 age.
His stories are not only rich in practical details that are helpful in planning a trip, but his dispatches are often emotionally revealing. For example, during his grand tour last summer, he filed a story called “Tracing Family Roots in Vilnius.” The article describes how he tracked down his Lithuanian ancestors. And the accompanying video (embedded below) is also interesting — but it’s more lighthearted:
The written article, blog post, and images were one story. The video was another.
I also like “Spying on Bucharest’s Cool Underground,” which ran with this video (embedded below):
In the end, I think that traditional newspaper and magazine travel journalism will continue to thrive, as will travel TV shows. These meet a need. But it’s interesting to see how Matt’s work has blended traditional and multimedia elements to create something different entirely.
For more reading, I suggest:
President Obama’s inauguration was, of course, front-page news here in Bangkok today. Here’re the top left corner of Thai Rath newspaper, a popular daily ((Thai Rath‘s coverage can be quite sensational. Today’s issue contains three striking below-the-fold images not included in this scan: a man who was killed in a car crash; a woman embracing what appears to be a dead relative; and a crime scene photo of a shirtless man face down in a pool of blood.)):
And here’s today’s Bangkok Post ((Apologies for the poor scans. My scanner isn’t big enough to accommodate the papers’ broadsheet size. The full Bangkok Post headline reads “Obama Pledges New America.”)).
UPDATE: Hong Kong blogger Thomas Crampton has a nice round-up of Obama front pages around Asia.
AFP: “Australian jailed for three years for insulting Thai king”
A Thai court on Monday sentenced an Australian writer to three years in jail after finding him guilty of insulting Thailand’s revered royal family in a novel, a judge said.
Harry Nicolaides, 41, had pleaded guilty to the charge earlier on Monday. He has been in custody for nearly five months.
“He was found guilty under criminal law article 112 and the court has sentenced him to six years, but due to his confession, which is beneficial to the case, the sentence is reduced to three years,” a judge told the court.
“He has written a book that slandered the king, the crown prince and Thailand and the monarchy,” the judge added.
Bangkok Pundit has more info. Here’s an AP story. And here’s one from the IHT. For context, I suggest this CSM story: “Thais tighten ban on royal slurs.”
The newspaper industry in the US is suffering, as we know. But an Indonesian billionaire thinks there’s room for another English-language paper in Jakarta. In November, James Riady launched the Jakarta Globe to compete head-to-head with the well-established Jakarta Post.
Today’s IHT has the story: “Indonesian billionaire takes on the Jakarta Post”
That it is probably the worst time in history to start a daily newspaper is not, at least for the moment, on the minds of the people behind The Jakarta Globe.
The Globe, an English-language paper that hit the newsstands in November, is an unusual sight in this era of the shrinking – or disappearing – newspaper: It is a 48-page broadsheet, big enough to cover your desk when unfolded and painted head to toe in color.
The paper is backed by the billionaire James Riady, deputy chairman of the powerful Lippo Group and one of the wealthiest people in Indonesia, with interests including real estate, banking and retail.
Riady is also a budding media mogul. He owns the Indonesian business magazine Globe and is developing a Web portal and a cable television news channel.
“I think they are serious about creating a media empire, becoming the Rupert Murdoch of South East Asia,” said Lin Neumann, The Globe’s chief editor.
This snippet caught my eye, as well:
Neither The Post nor The Globe would discuss advertising revenue or circulation figures. Bayuni said The Globe had not yet cut into The Post’s circulation.
The papers’ editors, however, both pointed to Bangkok as an example of a market that has been able to sustain two English-language broadsheets, although Bangkok is a much bigger market than Jakarta. Both said they would aim at the growing Indonesian middle class – a group that is increasingly learning, working and reading in English. More than half of The Post’s readers are Indonesian, as opposed to expatriate, and The Globe, recognizing this trend, is betting on the local population to increase its market share.
And there’s this, about competition for journalists in Jakarta:
The two papers are fighting over journalists as well as readers. Finding experienced, English-speaking local journalists is not always easy here and the competition for them is high. The papers, however, are taking different approaches.
The Globe has put together a team of about 60 Indonesian reporters, recruiting from wire services like Agence France-Presse and Reuters. One of its deputy editors is Bhimanto Suwastoyo, who worked for AFP for more than 20 years and is widely considered one of the best local journalists.
The Post, on the other hand, has long been a training ground for local reporters looking to get their start in the industry. The paper offers a training program in exchange for service of as long as two years.
Often, Bayuni said, those reporters move on to more prestigious or lucrative positions. Bloomberg News employs six former Post reporters.
The big story in Thailand at the moment involves accusations that the Thai navy intercepted hundreds of boat people and forced them back out to sea with little food or water. The refugees were Rohingya — Muslims from Western Myanmar (Burma).
Here’s a recent AFP story: “Thailand accused of returning asylum-seekers to sea to die”
PORT BLAIR, India (AFP) — India said Sunday that hundreds of people were missing at sea, believed to be part of a wave of boat people allegedly dragged out to the middle of the ocean by Thailand and left to die.
Thailand has denied the accusations, but accounts of survivors and the latest reports from the Indian coast guard have piled the pressure on Bangkok, and the Thai government said it would meet rights groups on Monday.
The Thai navy is accused of detaining the migrants, from a Muslim ethnic minority in Myanmar, after they washed up on the Thai coast — and then towing them to sea and leaving them to their fate.
India’s coast guard said Sunday it had rescued hundreds of the refugees from the Rohingya ethnic group, who live along the border of Myanmar and Bangladesh, but that hundreds more were feared lost.
The BBC has more on the story, which it seems was broken in the Western press by the New York Times on Jan. 17. And the story received a lot of coverage in yesterday’s Bangkok Post. The print edition of today’s Post has a story saying that Thai PM Abhisit will meet today with human rights groups, but I don’t see the story on their site. There’s also a Nation story, but it’s difficult to follow. Bangkok Pundit has more info.
And, finally, here’s some background info on the Rohingya people.
Thanks to my friend FH for sending along this image of a package of Obama cookies, which she found at a Safeway grocery store in Washington, DC.
Just in time for the big inauguration. ((Thailand readers: President elect Obama is scheduled to take the Oath of Office at approximately midnight Bangkok time (noon eastern time) on Tuesday, January 20.))
Brian Stelter has a good story in today’s New York Times about CNN.com and “Web news wars” among top news sites.
Some snippets that caught my eye:
On media ubiquity
The challenge, for Mr. Estenson and others, is to make CNN.com more distinctive. At the end of a long day recently, he showed a visitor screen grabs of four Web pages on his Macbook Air.
“When you look at the top news sites, they often look almost identical,” he says, gesturing to the home pages of CNN, ABC News, The Wall Street Journal and Yahoo News. Down to photo choices and color schemes, the four sites look practically interchangeable and utilitarian, he says — hence his emphasis on the power of “unique signatures.”
On high-traffic times
More broadly, Ms. Golden defines “Web prime” as 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. During those hours, the home page will feature six or seven lead stories, on average, so no one headline lingers too long.
On profitability
It’s also trying to make money from more experimental forays. During the inauguration coverage on Tuesday, for the first time, CNN.com Live, the Web site’s video arm, will include TV-style commercial breaks. Until now the only ads on the streaming service have been snippets that play before the main clip, and small sponsorship banners.
Amid a recession, advertising sales are sluggish on television and online, putting a damper on CNN’s growth plans. But CNN.com is expected to remain flush; while Web revenue doesn’t match TV’s, the costs aren’t nearly as high.